If you became ill or injured and were unable to speak for yourself, would your loved ones know what kind of medical treatment you want? Would your family members and doctors be legally bound to carry out your wishes?

Without a valid document directing your health care, your wishes for medical treatment may not be known or honored. In an extreme case, your family members could end up in court, arguing over what’s best for you. In California, you can avoid outcomes like these by preparing a legal document called an Advance Health Care Directive.

If you've decided it's time to prepare documents directing your health care, congratulations. It may be challenging to think about the kinds of medical treatment you do or do not want at the end of life, but your completed forms are almost guaranteed to bring peace of mind to you and your loved ones.

To get started, you'll need the right forms to fill out. In California, that means obtaining an Advance Health Care Directive form.

Which Advance Directive Form Is Best?

You have several options for choosing health care forms in California. You can use the Advance Directive form published by the state, but you are not required to do so. more...

Both federal and state law give you the power to direct your own medical care. This means that you can say whether you want life-support measures -- such as a respirator or feeding tubes -- at the end of your life.

In truth, you could use a pen and the back of a napkin to scribble a wish that you not be placed on life support and, if those wishes were "clear and convincing," the law would honor them. But have no doubt: The best place to write out your health care wishes is in a living will. By clearly expressing your wishes in a document approved by your state, you can remove confusion and potential conflict from a stressful situation. more...

Some states have established databases, usually called “registries,” where you can file your Living Will or Advance Directive. (If your state has a registry, you'll find a link to it at the end of this article.) Other states recommend a privately owned, national registry called the U.S. Living Will Registry. These systems provide central locations that medical professionals can consult to determine whether patients have made documents directing their health care.

Using a registry can increase the likelihood that your critical health care wishes will be found and followed when needed -- but there are other steps you should take to make your health care wishes known.

The Best Way to Make Your Health Care Wishes Known

After you've made a document directing your health care, the first thing to do is talk with the person you’ve named as your health care representative, often called your “agent.” more...

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A health care agent is the person you name to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to speak for yourself. Some states use a different name for a health care agent, such as “proxy,” “representative,” or “attorney in fact.” California uses the term “health care agent.” You will name this person when you make your Advance Health Care Directive.

What Your Health Care Agent Can Do

If you can’t communicate because of a serious illness or injury, your health care agent is legally authorized to step in and carry out your wishes for medical care, making any necessary treatment decisions along the way. Your agent will have the sole legal authority to speak for you, taking into account all that he or she knows about your desires for treatment and your personal beliefs. Your agent is not required to consult family members before making decisions on your behalf, unless your Advance Health Care Directive explicitly requires that.

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You can make a living will without a lawyer’s help. In fact, most states have designed their health care forms -- called Advance Health Care Directives in California -- with the specific intention that you will complete them yourself. Usually, you’ll need to consult a health care professional or an attorney only if there is something about your forms that you don’t understand.

How to Make Your Own Health Care Documents

Though you’re not likely to need professional help, you do need to take certain steps to ensure that your health care documents are legally valid. Each state has its own rules for creating health care documents; you’ll want to be sure you find and complete the right forms for your state. After your forms are filled out, you must finalize them correctly, including signing them in front of witnesses or a notary public, according to your state’s laws.

You can find the forms and rules for California using the links below.

When You May Want Professional Help

There are a few circumstances in which it makes good sense to make your health care documents with the help of a health care professional or estate planning lawyer.

It’s usually not necessary to hire a lawyer to make a living will or medical power of attorney, but there are some situations in which you might want a lawyer’s help. (For a discussion of each of these circumstances, see Do I Need a Lawyer to Make a Living Will?)

If you decide you want to consult an attorney, you should look for one with plenty of estate planning experience. That’s the practice area that includes health care directives and powers of attorney.

A few simple tips can increase your chances of finding a good lawyer.

Ask your friends and family. Tell people you know and respect that you are looking for a lawyer to help you prepare health care directives. If they hired a lawyer to make an estate plan in California, put that lawyer on your list of possible candidates. more...

A DNR order, short for "do not resuscitate order," alerts emergency personnel that you do not wish to receive cardiopulonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event of a medical emergency. It is a medical order that must be signed by a doctor.

DNR orders are used primarily by people who are already critically ill and feel strongly that they do not want life-prolonging treatment when close to death. If you do not have a DNR order, emergency medical personnel must use all available measures, no matter how invasive, to save your life.

Getting a DNR order in the hospital. When you are admitted to a hospital, your doctor can add a DNR order to your medical record. This may happen in a number of ways:

Do you winter in the south, spend summers in the north, or travel extensively for business? If you spend a significant amount of time in more than one state, you’ll want to take the time to make sure your health care documents -- living will, advance directive, or medical power of attorney -- will be valid wherever you are.

Most States Will Accept Your Health Care Documents

Usually, documents directing health care remain valid when you cross state lines. Most states will accept a health care directive that is legally valid in the state where it was made.more...

A POLST form is a document that tells health care professionals what kind of medical treatments you do or do not wish to receive at the end of your life. POLST is short for “Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment,” though the document may go by a different name in your state.

How POLST Forms Work

A POLST form is a medical order that a doctor or other approved health care professional may make for you if you are:

nearing the end of your life, and

admitted to a hospital or enter another health care setting, such as hospice.

The POLST form gives directions to medical providers about life-sustaining treatments, such as CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), intubation, and feeding tubes. If you move from one health care setting to another, you POLST form will travel with you.

To be valid, health care provider who helps you make the POLST must sign the form and place it in your medical records. It will be printed on brightly colored paper so it can’t easily be overlooked.

Why You Still Need a Living Will

Even though a POLST form addresses many of the same issues covered by a DNR order and a living will, it is not a complete substitute for a properly prepared set of advance directives.

You cannot, for example, use a POLST form to name a health care agent to carry out your health care wishes. For that, you need a durable power of attorney for health care. Nor can you make a POLST form in advance -- while you are healthy -- to specify your treatment wishes for the future. To do that, you need a living will.

How to Get a POLST Form

POLSTs are not yet available in all states. Where they are used, they may go by another name, such as POST (Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment), MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), or COLST (Clinician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment).

If California offers a POLST or similar form, you can find out what it is called and learn more about it by clicking the link below. If California is not on this list, see the end of this article for more information.

A Mental Health Care Directive is a document that describes your wishes for care and treatment if you have a psychiatric emergency. It takes effect only during times when you are unable to communicate or make your own decisions. A Mental Health Care Directive is sometimes called an Advance Mental Health Care Directive or a Psychiatric Advance Directive.

Besides stating your treatment preferences, a mental health care directive usually names a trusted person to speak on your behalf. This person, often called your agent, works with mental health care providers to ensure you get the kind of care you want.

A typical Advance Health Care Directive or Living Will gives instructions about end-of-life health care. But a Mental Health Care Directive may be used during periods of serious mental illness at any stage of your life. It focuses on treatment concerns that arise during psychiatric crises, such as hospitalization, medications, doctors, and therapists. more...

What Is a Living Will?

In a Living Will, you state your wishes for the kinds of medical treatment you do or don't want if you become seriously ill or injured and unable to speak for yourself. The document may go by another name in your state, such as "Advance Directive" or "Declaration," but most people (and any health care provider) will know what you mean if you say "Living Will."

A Living Will doesn't have anything to do with the kind of will or trust you use to leave property to others when you die; it's exclusively a place to write down your health care wishes.

When Your Living Will Takes Effect

Your Living Will becomes effective only if doctors determine that you can no longer make your own health care decisions. This condition is often called "lacking capacity." If you lack capacity, it means you are unable to:

understand the nature and consequences of the medical treatment options available to you, or

communicate what you want, either by speaking, writing, or gesturing.

Essentially, if you are so sick or injured that you can't convey your health care wishes in any way, your Living Will immediately becomes a guide for your loved ones and health care providers.

If there is any doubt about whether you can understand and express your treatment choices, your doctor (after talking with your health care agent or family members) will decide whether your Living Will should take effect.

Must Doctors Follow Your Instructions?

Medical professionals must usually do all they can to follow the directions you give in a Living Will.

In limited situations, a doctor or hospital will be permitted to deny your wishes. This may happen if:

you have asked for care that the health care provider believes would result in medically ineffective treatment or treatment that violates generally accepted standards of medical care

your instruction goes against the conscience -- for example, violating a religious belief -- of the health care provider, or

your instruction runs counter to a policy of the hospital or other care facility that is based on reasons of conscience.

Still, a health care provider cannot simply ignore your Living Will. A doctor or hospital who won't follow your instructions must promptly inform you or the person in charge of your health care decisions, and must try to transfer you to a provider that will honor your instructions. (In many states, this rule doesn't apply to pregnant women; see What Happens to My Living Will If I Am Pregnant?)

What Is a Medical Power of Attorney?

If illness or injury prevent you from directing your own health care, someone must step in to speak for you. Your health care representative will be responsible for working with doctors to make the best treatment choices for you, following any guidance you’ve left in a Living Will or other document -- or simply making choices based on your representative’s best understanding of what you would want.

Who Makes Your Medical Decisions If You Can’t

Unless you make a document naming your health care representative, state law says who will get this very important job -- usually it will be your spouse, children, parents, or other closest family members. To minimize possible conflicts and ensure your health care decisions are placed in the hands of the person you trust the most, you’ll want to prepare a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.

The document naming your health care representative may also be called a Medical Power of Attorney, Appointment of Health Care Proxy, Surrogate Designation, or something similar. The person you name as your representative is most commonly called your “health care agent,” though you may also terms like “attorney-in-fact,” health care proxy, or surrogate.

Your Health Care Agent’s Powers

When you make a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, you can give your agent as much or as little power as you choose. Ideally, you will name a representative who you trust enough to oversee all aspects of your medical care.

Normally, this means your agent will be allowed to:

consent to or refuse medical treatment to the same extent you could for yourself, with limited exceptions such as terminating a pregnancy, authorizing some psychiatric treatments, or going against any of your known wishes (unless you explicitly give your agent permission to override your previous instructions)

see your medical records

select or change your health care providers

choose the facilities where you will receive treatment

visit you at any time in any medical facility, or

go to court on your behalf, if a doctor or medical facility refuses to honor your documented wishes for care or the authority of your health care agent.

Giving Your Agent Additional Powers

A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care begins when doctors determine you are no longer able to make your own health care decisions -- and it usually ends upon your death. However, in most states, you can give your agent the authority to handle some matters after your death. These powers may include making sure your organ donation wishes are carried out, authorizing an autopsy, or arranging the burial or cremation of your body. If you want your agent to handle any or all of these things for you, you should specifically address them in your power of attorney document.

Limiting Your Agent’s Authority

Many states publish Health Care Power of Attorney forms that invite you to limit your health care agent’s power in any way you wish. For example, someone who wants feeding tubes may state that their health care agent may not grant permission to have them withheld or withdrawn. Keep in mind that your agent is legally required to make health care decisions in your best interest and always in accordance with what your agent knows or believes you would want.

Because your medical needs may unfold in ways you can’t predict, you should give careful consideration to any limitations you place on your agent’s authority. The wiser approach may be to document your wishes for health care in a living will and have ongoing conversations with your agent about what you would and would not want, trusting your agent to respond as needed to whatever circumstances may arise in the future.

Health Care Agent, Proxy, or Surrogate: What's the Difference?

If you are no longer able to direct your own health care, someone else must speak for you. The person who works with your doctors and makes treatment decisions on your behalf may be called your agent, proxy, surrogate, or something similar.

What your representative is called depends on the state where you live and on whether or not you make a document -- called an Advance Health Care Directive -- naming the representative of your choice.

In California, if you make a an Advance Health Care Directive, the person who you appoint to make medical decisions for you is called your health care agent.

If you don't appoint your own representative, state law says who is responsible for making your treatment decisions. The person named by law is called your .

If a Court Gets Involved

If you become severely incapacitated and have not named someone to represent you, a court may appoint someone to manage all of your personal affairs, including your health care decisions. In California, this person would be called your .

Read California's Health Care Laws

Health Care By Zip Code endeavors to provide all the basic information you need to make documents directing your health care. That said, there may be a time when you want to confirm what you've learned or drill deeper into a specific legal issue.

On this website, when you choose your state or enter your zip code above, you will quickly learn:

how Living Wills, Medical Powers of Attorney, and other health care directives can help you keep your health care decisions in your own hands

what health care directives are called in your state

what your health care directives can cover

how to find the best health care directive forms for your state

and more.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to learn how to provide legally binding health care instructions in case you are ever unable to speak for yourself.

Who We Are

Legal Consumer

Legal Consumer is a company that believes you should have access to quality information about the legal issues affecting your life. Whether you’re facing financial difficulties, health concerns, or trouble at your job, we want to help you find the resources you need. Our websites are written by lawyers and designed to give you accurate, relevant information for your location.

After receiving his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1985, Albin worked for various public-interest law firms in the Bay Area and as a staff attorney for Chief Justice Rose Bird of the California Supreme Court. He spent 17 years as an editor at leading do-it-yourself legal publisher Nolo, where he helped create numerous books and software programs, including the bestselling Quicken WillMaker. He also edited Law on the Net, the first online directory of legal resources, and was the architect of Nolo's Webby Award winning website.